Equalizer based receivers typically provide enhanced performance over other types of receivers in many situations. For this reason, equalizer based receivers are often preferred over other types of receivers, such as RAKEs or matched filters (MFs). Unfortunately, this enhanced performance sometimes comes at a cost.
For example, equalizer based receivers are more complex and may have performance degradation under certain conditions. Additionally, equalizer based receivers typically consume more power than other types of receivers. In fact, in some cases the equalizer consumes more power than any other components.
It is not necessarily advantageous for a receiver to be always operating in an equalizer mode. Therefore, it would be beneficial if a method and apparatus existed that would switch a receiver from an equalizer operating mode to a different mode when the conditions warranted.